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Atkins snubs Cawley petition

The Lowell Sun

Updated:
07/10/2017 02:57:35 PM EDT

Sun Staff report

ONE LEGISLATOR prevented unanimous support for Lowell's home rule petition in the House on Friday.

It was Concord Rep. Cory Atkins, who represents part of Chelmsford. She had previously asked House Speaker Robert DeLeo to schedule a public hearing on the petition, which would replace the athletic fields if a new high school is built at Cawley.

The petition passed 148-1 in the House and 36-0 in the Senate. Lowell officials blasted her opposition after the vote.

"I would never go against any colleague that has a home rule petition," he said. "It's just not something that happens... Thankfully, her vote had no weight at all."

City Manager Kevin Murphy, a former state representative, called it "bizarre."

"There's something wrong with her," he said of Atkins. "That she would involve herself so negatively in a local issue where she isn't a state rep. It's uncalled for in the Legislature."

Atkins said in May that she had received at least 125 emails from Lowell residents on the field replication issue. Her then-husband, Chester Atkins, represented Lowell in Congress for about a decade beginning in 1984.

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In the letter to DeLeo, Atkins wrote: "This bill intends to authorize the City of Lowell to use Article 97 land to construct a new high school and playing fields. As this is not the intended use of Article 97 lands, and open space in Lowell is of tremendous value to the city's residents, fast-tracking House bill 3654 without considering input offered a public hearing, we are doing a great disservice in the Legislature to the commonwealth's taxpayers."

Nangle, whose district includes the Cawley fields where a new high school might be built, had criticized Atkins when she sent the letter, saying she's "meddling" in a colleague's district. Nangle said there had already been public hearings when the matter was before the city's Board of Parks and City Council in March.

"Concord would have been much better off had Helen Brady won the seat," Nangle said after Friday's vote.

Atkins could not be reached for comment Friday night or Saturday before press time.

The petition now heads to Gov. Charlie Baker's desk.

DRACUT TOWN Manager Jim Duggan has had a busy two years.

First, Duggan cleaned up a mess in the Police Department and hired a new chief. The true impact of a shoddy evidence locker operation is still unraveling.

Several economic-development projects will add badly needed revenue.

In June, four of the five selectmen acknowledged Duggan's accomplishments with a positive evaluation.

Yet when his new contract comes up for a vote Tuesday night, it's looking like only three members will vote in favor: Chairman Alison Hughes, Jesse Forcier and Tony Archinski.

So where's the disconnect with members Tami Dristiliaris and Joseph DiRocco Jr.?

Duggan's efforts to restore order to the Police Department haven't reflected well on Deputy David Chartrand, with whom Dristiliaris is close. Last year, Duggan suspended Chartrand for two weeks for his handling of documents in a lieutenant's personnel file.

Sources told The Column that DiRocco supports a new deal for Duggan, but is concerned about the pay raise. Duggan currently earns $145,656 annually. His new contract will push that to about $170,000, sources said.

Future raises will be tied to performance. That's unlike the contract the School Committee recently gave to Superintendent Steven Stone.

"The vote on a new contract for Duggan would be 5-0," said one insider. "The split is on the size of the raise."

In June, the School Committee voted 3-2 to give Stone a new five-year contract, three years ahead of his contract expiration. Voting in favor were Chairman Joseph Wilkie, Vice Chair Daniel O'Connell and member Betsy Murphy, while members Allison Volpe and Sabrina Heisey voted no. Stone will receive a 4 percent raise this year to $166,400, and a 2 percent increase in each of the next three years.

TWO POPULAR, hard-working and dedicated captains vying for one of the two deputy positions in the Lowell Police Department didn't make it easy for the appointing authority, City Manager Kevin Murphy, to make a selection.

It took Murphy months to eventually decide upon Raymond "Kelly" Richardson rather than Capt. Tim Crowley. There was also a third candidate, Capt. Daniel Larocque.

Murphy even convened a citizen's panel for a recommendation. That group, which included the likes of Superintendent William Taylor, Fire Chief Jeffrey Winward, Trinity EMS president John Chemaly, Somerville Police Chief David Fallon, and Bopha Malone, director of the Cambodian Mutual Assistance Association, backed Richardson.

Murphy was hesitant to pull the trigger, until he attended a neighborhood impact event in Centralville a couple weeks back. During such events, top city administrative, police, fire and inspectional services personnel saturate a neighborhood to see what's going right and what's going wrong.

Richardson was also among those who attended.

"I was pretty impressed with what I saw," said Murphy, noting the neighborhood leaders had genuine trust in Richardson.

For a city manager who plays close attention to how his bosses on the City Council view matters, it likely helped that several lobbied Murphy on Richardson's behalf.

Richardson will be taking from Interim Deputy Superintendent Jonathan Webb, who filled in following the retirement last year of Arthur Ryan Jr. The promotion comes with a salary of $146,000, about $15,000 more than Richardson made as a captain.

Richardson will take the oath of office Thursday at 11 a.m. during a ceremony in the Mayor's Reception Room.

THE SHADOW of a federal lawsuit challenging Lowell's at-large elections will be hanging over the November election.

Plaintiffs, primarily from the Hispanic and Southeast Asian communities, have sued to encourage the city to adopt a district-based system, which they argue would lead to better representation of a city that is 49 percent minority.

Currently, the city councilors are all white and Mercier is the only woman. She is also the only woman to have pulled nomination papers so far.

Four members of the Southeast Asian community are running: Paul Ratha Yem, Vesna Nuon, Pan So and Sokhary Chau.

IN A field of more than 20 candidates, it can be hard to stand out.

It helps if you're an ally of the previous mayor and have an ongoing verbal brawl with the sitting mayor.

These are the kinds of calculations that must be spinning through the mind of John MacDonald.

MacDonald, a long-time veterans advocate in the city, told friends in January that he wasn't interested in running for the council. But the high school fracas and a few run-ins with Mayor Edward Kennedy seem to have softened his resolve.

In a 1,647-word post online, MacDonald has announced that he is considering running for the council, and laid out his issues in bullet points.

Several months ago MacDonald and Councilor Rodney Elliott engaged in a public shouting match with Kennedy over which room to hold a ceremony honoring veterans in. In the end, they ended up holding it in both.

The bad blood doesn't seem to have been cured.

MacDonald devoted an entire paragraph of his essay to criticizing Kennedy's leadership, accusing him of "openly defying the city" and "emotional outbursts."

IN THE Hamilton Canal Innovation District, you Winn some, you lose some.

It was a little bit of a black eye for the city when Winn Development pulled out as master developer of Lowell's signature block, citing a lack of consensus among city officials and their apparent aversion to building housing in the district.

Winn appears to back.

In a brief to city councilors about the HCID, City Manager Kevin Murphy wrote that Winn is now in discussions to build market-rate housing on two parcels.

Winn's proposed buildings conform with the city's HCID master plan, according to Murphy's letter, something that might draw a wry smile from the suits at Winn.

One of their main complaints upon withdrawing as master developer was how far the city's desires seemed to have drifted from that plan.

WHEN THE local search to find a replacement for retired Lowell High School principal Brian Martin failed to produce a candidate to Superintendent Salah Khelfaoui's liking, Khelfaoui broadened the search by hiring Marlboro-based New England School Development Council, a non-profit that helps public school systems with such matters.

Whether that decision was the right one will be known this week. Interested applicants have until 5 p.m. Monday to apply.

Last Friday, Khelfaoui said he didn't know how applications had been received. Council Executive Director Arthur Bettencourt. Bettencourt could not immediately be reached for comment.

The council, Khelfaoui explained, will screen of applicants and give him at least three solid candidates. An interim principal, he said, will hopefully emerge by Aug. 1.

DENNIS READY had been to each of the first 49 modern July 4 parades in Chelmsford, as well as earlier ones from his youth.

That's why it was particularly hard for the longtime former selectman and two-time parade marshal to miss this year's 50th parade.

Instead of enjoying the Independence Day festivities in town, cheering on his entire family in the John Carson Road Race or riding in a convertible with the Democratic Town Committee, Ready was at D'Youville in Lowell recuperating from a stomach virus that severely weakened him.

Being the 50th "makes it harder not to be there, but I have some real fond memories," Ready said.

He recalled marching in the 1955 tricentennial parade, and a moment shared with his then-4-year-old son, Kevin, that made it onto the front page of The Sun about 35 years ago.

While he couldn't make it this time, Ready said it's an absolute point of pride for him that Chelmsford has the biggest and longest running parade in the area.

"It's the country's birthday and we celebrate it better than anybody else," he said.

A BILLERICA resident who served in the U.S. Navy has announced her run for state representative -- more than a year out from the primary.

Alicia Reddin, a Democrat, is seeking Rep. Marc Lombardo's 22nd Middlesex seat. The Republican has been in office since 2010.

Before a potential showdown with Lombardo, she will face Selectman George Simolaris in the Democratic primary.

Reddin, 31, is district director of veteran services for Saugus, Melrose and Wakefield -- helping veterans receive benefits and services. In the Navy, she worked as a heavy equipment operator on demolition across the South Pacific.

She stressed that women and veterans are not adequately represented at the state and federal levels.

"There's Congressman (Seth) Moulton, but there are not many veterans at the Congressional level, and there are far fewer females in the Statehouse," said Reddin, who has lived in Billerica since 2015. "It's far too low statistically."

A working mother of two, she said one of her priorities would be safe and affordable child care.

"We need to have options," Reddin said. "It's a huge challenge."

Other priorities would include helping homeless veterans and tackling the opioid epidemic, she said.

Reddin, a Town Meeting member, also said Billerica needs to receive more state funding for its roads and schools.

She was recently interviewed for a story on NBC News titled: "Women Vets Take Aim at a New Target: Public Office."

THE WILMINGTON School Committee fleshed out some ideas for its permanent superintendent search at a recent workshop-style meeting. Those in attendance helped to establish the beginning steps of how to go about the process. This time around the School Committee has expressed their interest in using a search firm.

One of the first duties of the search firm will be to gather data and input from the community about what they want in a superintendent. The School Committee will also establish a committee that will vet and narrow down prospective superintendent candidates.

"It's not so much to me to see somebody have time in a classroom," said School Committee member MJ Byrnes. "I would like the next leader to be impassioned by teaching still. It's not just classroom experience, it's the passion for learning, the passion for mentoring, the passion for teaching that I would like to see the next candidate embody."

Other School Committee members and those in the audience echoed those sentiments, stressing the importance of having a leader who is trustworthy, compassionate, communicative and approachable. School Committee member Peggy Kane said the next superintendent does not need to be an expert in every area, but must hire the right people.

The Wilmington district has not has a permanent superintendent since Mary DeLai's resignation in October. Paul Ruggiero, the director of Administration & Finance, is currently serving as interim school superintendent.

"This is a very daunting task and we've got a lot of work ahead of us and we need all the help we can get on this," said School Committee Chair Steve Bjork.

MONDAY'S SPECIAL Town Meeting on Monday will be the first in Westford in 25 years moderated by someone other than Ellen Harde.

Susan Spuhler was elected in a three-way race in May. Harde decided not to seek re-election.

Spuhler said she attended nine Town Meetings in other towns in a few weeks, logging hundreds of miles zigzagging across the state. But Spuhler said it was worth it for the experience and exposure.

"I've had the opportunity to meet other town moderators and make friends with them," she said. "They've given me a lot of excellent advice. I've gotten to see different ways they've been doing their meetings."

Spuhler has also read the "Town Meeting Time" handbook front to back, and she may even pick out a brand-new suit for Monday's occasion.

In a way, she lucked out that her first Town Meeting is an abbreviated one -- because town officials had to call the Special Town Meeting to seek votes on a deadline, only two articles are on the warrant for Monday.

"It's a good jumping-off point," Spuhler said, "kind of like training wheels."

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